


old fashioned lover boy

by cantfoolajoker (lichmutual)



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pre-Canon, Shinjiro is dumb and oblivious but what else is new, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:35:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29409882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lichmutual/pseuds/cantfoolajoker
Summary: Shinjiro Aragaki can't figure out why Akihiko has suddenly taken an interest in making Valentine's Day chocolates. He also can't figure out why he even cares.
Relationships: Aragaki Shinjiro & Kirijo Mitsuru, Aragaki Shinjiro/Sanada Akihiko
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	old fashioned lover boy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cheshiure](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheshiure/gifts).



> this is a valentines day gift to my lovely gf, who requested akishinji valentines day chocolate making! ♡

Nobody really used the kitchen in the dorm. Maybe that was because there were only three people living there, but Shinjiro was pretty certain Mitsuru and Akihiko stayed clear of the area due to neither of them exactly having expertise in successfully preparing food. 

There’s…. some sort of burning smell though in the downstairs area. 

Shinjiro wrinkles his nose when he comes down the stairs. “What — is that smell?” 

There’s a panicked sound definitely coming from the kitchen. And Shinjiro knew Akihiko’s _“I know I’m in trouble so I’m going to avoid answering”_ noise.

“Aki?” He tries again, and when Shinjiro turns the corner his eyes are met with Akihiko covered in chocolate.

“Hi, Shinji,” Akihiko replies. It sounds pretty forced, but he was caught in the act after all.

“The fuck are you doing?” Shinjiro asks as he wanders over, looking at the mess of chocolate melts. “You got a little something over — ” He pauses with a pointed finger before motioning to the stains on Akihiko’s shirt and on his face, “ — all there.”

Akihiko swats his hand away and frowns. “I know! I’m not good at this stuff like you are.”

Shinjiro hums. “What even is ‘this stuff’?”

“You don’t know?”

“You look like you were trying to paint yourself and failed,” Shinjiro says, and Akihiko narrows his eyes and huffs, face turning red. “Jeez, calm down. What do you need help with? Tempering chocolate?”

“How’d you know?”

Shinjiro gives him a raised eyebrow. “You have chocolate on the stove. I see the melting chocolates, and ain’t that some molds over there?” He pokes with his finger in the direction across from Akihiko. His guesses are met with another noise, one he could read as _“I don’t want to answer because you got it right”._

“Smooth, Aki.”

“Shut — Shut up!”

Shinjiro motions for him to scoot over, and he takes over Akihiko’s workstation. “Jeez, you were doing this the hard way too. You know you can just do this in the microwave, yeah?”

Akihiko huffs, but he’s holding back a _“no”_ in the way his cheeks redden more and puff out with the air held in them paired with his pout.

As Shinjiro goes through the motions to demonstrate how to temper chocolate, he quirks an eyebrow at Akihiko. “Why the sudden interest in chocolate, anyway? Don’t you not like sweets?”

Akihiko pauses, gauging his question. “...Do you really not know?”

“I guess I don’t.”

“It’s Valentine’s day in a few days, Shinji!”

Shinjiro huffs and stirs the chocolate. “Yeah?”

Akihiko pauses, disbelief on his features, and he motions with his hands wordlessly.

“Yeah?” Shinjiro repeats again.

“It’s — you make — chocolate — ”

“I know what Valentine’s day is, stupid. Why are you so interested in it suddenly?”

There… was admittedly a ping of emotion in Shinjiro, his words more heated than he had intended them to be. He doesn’t really know why he cares; he doesn’t even know how to describe the feeling that ignited. Maybe that was because Shinjiro himself wasn’t too well versed in effective communication, but what fourteen year old would be?

Akihiko clams up. “Because!”

Shinjiro presses his lips together, the ping hitting again with more force. “Fine. Don’t tell me,” he huffs, tensing up. He’s aware Akihiko can tell he’s having a reaction to his words, but Shinjiro wanted nothing else to say on the matter. “C’monere. I can show you how to check if the chocolate is good.”

When Valentine’s Day arrives, Shinjiro is in even more of a bad mood. He knew Akihiko was giving chocolates to someone that he made and he wasn’t even going to tell his best friend who they were for.

Shinjiro pauses when he sees Mitsuru, who produces a small box of store-bought chocolates that she hands over.

“Thank you for your continued support,” she tells him with a dip of her head, and Shinjiro waves his hand.

“You do this every year,” he says, taking the giri-choco and out of habit exchanging them for his own chocolates he had prepared for her. “Don’t gotta give me obligation chocolate or whatever.”

“But I choose to do so,” Mitsuru counters with a proud ‘hmph’. “Are you aware of where I would be able to find Akihiko?”

Shinjiro pauses and the feeling returns. “He’s — wherever,” he says, realizing he has to force himself to relax his fists unless he wants to break Mitsuru’s gift. 

“...Are you two fighting again?” 

“What? No,” Shinjiro huffs, frowning. “What gave you that idea?”

“You’re on edge,” Mitsuru observes, bringing her hand to rest under her chin thoughtfully. “Did you not like the chocolates he gave you?”

That causes Shinjiro to pause.

“What?”

“....Oh,” Mitsuru says, dropping her hand with a brief hum. “You haven’t even seen him today and you’re brooding already?”

“I’m not brooding!” 

“Hmph,” she laughs, the hint of her lips turning upward in a smile present. “Let’s see who can find him first, then.”

“Psh. Whatever.”

Shinjiro was just left more confused than before. He understood the individual words she said, but not them strung together as they had been. 

_The chocolates were for me?_

“Shinji!”

_There he is._

“Aki,” Shinjiro greets back, walking down the stairs the rest of the way when he sees Akihiko standing awkwardly within the seating area. “Mitsuru’s lookin’ for you, you know.”

“She is?” Akihiko asks, but then he rapidly shakes his head. “I can talk to her later. Uh, Shinji — ”

He pauses again, cheeks erupting into a vibrant pink that stands out against his hair and eyes. Akihiko dips his head and holds out a purple box to him. “Please take these!”

….So Mitsuru had been right after all.

Shinjiro feels his own cheeks heating up, and his free hand comes to the back of his neck as he slowly makes his way over. 

Their eyes meet when Shinjiro reaches out to take the box, but they both divert their attention in embarrassment within seconds. 

“Thanks,” Shinjiro mumbles. 

“It’s — no problem?”

“That’s — “

Shinjiro’s awkwardness starts to leave him as he laughs out loud, grinning. “That’s not what you say, stupid,” he finishes, and Akihiko squawks.

“You’re stupid!”

Shinjiro’s still laughing though. Inevitably within a few seconds, Akihiko breaks and joins in as well, as there was nothing more contagious than the others laughing.

“I’ll make you pancakes tonight,” Shinjiro offers, a sudden gentleness to his smile and voice that surprises even himself.

“Really?!”

“No, I just said that to get your excitement up.”

Akihiko puffs up even at the obvious teasing. “I’m taking my gift back, Shinji!”

“Catch me if you can then!”

The two were found by Mitsuru eventually, albeit they had already made a mess of the living space throwing pillows at one another. She wasn’t letting them get away with it even for the occasion.


End file.
